UN inspectors warn of dangerous chlorine in Iraq

UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Reuters) UN inspectors warned that insurgents in Iraq were using chlorine to kill and wound civilians and could, given the country's expertise in chemical arms in the past, develop other weapons-grade toxic agents.

Media reports have showed that insurgents are using toxic chemicals, such as chlorine, combined with explosives for dispersal, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC, said in a report to the Security Council posted on its Web site yesterday.

''Such attacks have resulted in the killing of tens and injuring of hundreds of people throughout Iraq,'' UNMOVIC said.

There have been at least 10 attacks using chlorine, and several others were attempted and foiled by security forces, said UNMOVIC in its quarterly report, dated May 29.

''Given the current security situation in Iraq, it is possible that some non-state actors will continue to seek to acquire toxic agents or their chemical precursors in small quantities,'' the report said.

In addition, ''non-state actors could also seek to acquire other, more toxic agents that are either indigenously produced or procured from abroad,'' it said.

The survey, prepared by UNMOVIC's acting executive chairman, Dimitri Perricos, pointed to the expertise Iraq had in producing chemical weapons ''with hundreds of scientific and technical personnel having been involved in the past chemical weapons program.'' Another danger was the availability and possible misuse of dual-use chemical production equipment, previously monitored by UN inspectors until they left Iraq shortly before the US-led invasion in 2003. Coalition forces have not allowed the monitors to return since then.

Through satellite imagery, UNMOVIC said, it identified a number of buildings and structures that used to contain such equipment but had been demolished or damaged by 2004.

However, the fate of the equipment, even in buildings that remained intact, was unknown, UNMOVIC said.

WEAPONS FROM IRAN-IRAQ WAR The report also warned that during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the Iraqi military ''received and used both conventional and chemical weapons.'' After that war, many units were relocated, raising the possibility that ''chemical munitions became inadvertently mixed with conventional weapons'' with markings that did not differ from standard weapons.

With UNMOVIC no longer in Iraq, the Security Council faces the task of shutting down the commission, which the United States has advocated over the last two years. The United States and Britain in March drew up a resolution to dissolve the commission and may distribute it again shortly.

But Russia has said that Iraq's disarmament has to be formally confirmed by UNMOVIC. The inspection commission, which has been reduced to just 34 professionals, wants to maintain its tons of research and a worldwide roster of inspectors.

''Once dispersed, it would be difficult and more costly to revive that expertise,'' said the report, which can be found on www.unmovic.org.

UNMOVIC was created late in 1999 as a successor to the UN Special Commission, known as UNSCOM. But former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government barred it until shortly before the invasion.

REUTERS JK KN0815